3D modelling from scratch
mresboss_e4187eb4cc
Posts: 5
in New Users
Hi mane is kanthi
I have been playing around with dazstudio for years now. my question is I want to learn how to do the 3D modelling from scratch . i mean make the cloths, mosters and things.
but Im at alost which program would be good. and not cost the earth.
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In order of cost:
Blender is free but hard to learn. (So is the GIMP, for texturing; I found it relatively easy to learn myself.)
Hexagon is inexpensive and easy to learn, but crashes a lot.
Silo costs more than Hexagon, is easy to learn, is pretty stable and is still cheaper than the big suites. Blacksmith3D is another one to look at.
3D Coat also does 3d painting very well and costs a bit more than Silo or Hex. It is a good one to add when you've made a bit of money from 3D already and are ready to upgrade.
Zbrush is the king of sculpting programs, but most of us use if for specialized applications and a different program for base meshing and UV; this is more one to add later on as you get more money. It is $800.
There are many, many good 3D programs (Sculptris is also free, I think) and hopefully other people have more suggestions.
Hi SickleYield, above you say "...and use a different program for base meshing and UV". I am wondering how to get myself started as well; what ones are used for meshing and UV? I have UV Mapper I think (cause it was something someone elsewhere recommended; for what, I forget now lol) but I am so lost, too, on which program you need to achieve which task. I am hoping to work on learning to createmy own morphs (I desperately want ones of my grandparents and certain other family members to create gifts with), texturing (both characters and items), and all of the things that mresboss_e4187eb4cc mentioned above. I know there is a lot of knowledge out there, but sometimes it feels like I am searching the Pacific Ocean for a floating grain of sand.
Thank you for any extra light you can shed onto this for me/us; I greatly appreciate your time. =)
~ Bree ~
I'll make it simple. For morphs or introductory modelling, pick either Blender, Hexagon or Silo (has a free trial). But you don't need to worry about UV's just yet if you are just making your first morphs.
Find some tutorials for them and get started. There are countless tools out there, but I would pick one of these three and go from there. Try one at a time. Maybe it turns out you can't stand one, then try another.
I would ignore sculptris and zbrush initially. After you get some experience modelling, you can worry about sculpting, which is way different.(different in a good way, but zbrush cost money, and sculptris has a lot of quirks when working with daz content. So I dont' suggest starting there)
thank you SickleYield and Iarmidnatt for the info. Iarsmidnatt which one of thos three are easy to learn ?
Hi, kanthi.
I'll just throw my two cents worth into the fray here by offering a perspective from someone that has been dabbling in this stuff for awhile, but is by no stretch of the imagination in the same class as Sickleyield and others.
When beginning, it is easy to find yourself mired up to the eyeballs in the technical aspects of 3D content creation due to the tendency to think of it as a single discipline. It is not. In fact, many longtime content creators actually specialize in different categories due to the time and effort required to perfect that part of the craft. Although there are many ways one could subdivide content creation, basic disciplines would be modelling or the creation of 3D meshes, and texturing or creating the "skins" that cover the 3D meshes. Different tools and techniques are required for each, and proficiency in their use requires time, patience and effort. Starting out, it is natural to want to create content that includes a mesh, textures, rigging, morphs. poses, etc. However, given the technical difficulties a new user will undoubtedly encounter with each aspect, there are two pieces of advice I would offer, regardless of the tools you choose and along the lines of what has already been suggested: Start out with something simple and move onwards and upwards from there in baby steps. Otherwise it is very easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged.
Been there, done that.
Thank you for the explanations. This helps with my further questioning of the OP's start of this topic. I think I was guilty of making this mistake in thinking you had to learn certain things before branching off into specializing it when it seems that you pick what you want to do and figure out the ground floor of that and move up. I guess I was looking at it as a big tree and I needed to find where the trunk was instead of realizing that like a tree, there are hidden roots and that is where one needs to begin.
Even though I have been around for a handful of years, it is all very overwhelming and figuring out just where to start for what you want to achieve has been difficult. At least this lets me know that (for example) if I want to learn how to texture someone else's clothing product, I need to ask specific questions regarding that VS. figuring out from the ground up how to do the whole entire process of creating something then doing the textures. Maybe doing these "baby steps" will help keep it more focused and less chaotic - at least in my mind.
Thanks so much again!
Blender is not dedicated to exclusively modelling, so it's the hardest up front due to is UI and throwing everything at you at once.
Silo is super easy. But cost money after the 30 day trial. Hexagon is almost as easy, but there is a learning curve on how to get it not to crash...I use hexagon just about any time I launch Daz Studio though because it is still useful especially once you learn what to avoid with it.
Learning how to modify stock content is the best fun way to get started. Instead of the learning curve you get when you completley start from scratch, you can get some quick successes/failures out of the way pretty quickly. First modify some exisiting textures, or maybe make your first morph out of an existing figure. These get you exposure to the tools and processes and help you get comfortable.